Commerzbank AG (CBK) fell to the lowest
price in more than two years in Frankfurt trading as Germany’s
second-biggest bank said it plans to raise about 5.3 billion
euros ($7.5 billion) selling new shares to help repay state aid.

Commerzbank will offer 2.44 billion new shares at 2.18
euros apiece, the Frankfurt-based lender said yesterday. That’s
45 percent below the stock’s closing price on May 20.
Shareholders will be allowed to subscribe to 10 new shares for
every 11 already held from May 24 to June 6, and the new shares
are expected to trade on June 7. Commerzbank slid 5.3 percent to
3.74 euros, the lowest since March 2009.

“Although the discount of the new shares is higher than
what we had originally expected we stick to our positive view,”
Philipp Haessler, an analyst at Equinet AG in Frankfurt, wrote
in a note to investors. “Once the capital increase is completed
investors should start focusing again on the fundamentals.”
Haessler has an “accumulate” rating on the stock with a price
forecast of 3.95 euros.

Commerzbank Chief Executive Officer Martin Blessing
announced plans in April to repay about 14.3 billion euros by
June through the sale of new shares and use of excess reserves.
Commerzbank received more than 18 billion euros from the German
government after agreeing to acquire unprofitable competitor
Dresdner Bank two weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc.

Soffin Stake

The lender has said it’s seeking to raise a total of 11
billion euros, with 8.25 billion euros coming from investors and
2.75 billion euros from Germany’s bank-rescue fund Soffin, which
will maintain its stake of 25 percent plus one share in the
company. Soffin will spend about 1.3 billion euros on new
shares, Commerzbank said yesterday.

The bank on April 14 said it raised 5.7 billion euros in
the first step, helped by the sale of conditional mandatory
exchangeable notes, leaving another 5.3 billion euros to be
raised in the rights offer.